Excerpts
from a full-page article in the Fremont Journal, February 9, 1883, provide
a closer glimpse of the flood:

"At ten o'clock Saturday
evening the streets were generally deserted and people had retired little
dreaming of waking to find themselves surrounded by water. Soon after
midnight the waters began to rise with terrible rapidity, and ice from
miles up the river came rushing down. The banks were overflown, houses
flooded, and by half past three Sunday morning the water came upon Front
Street… Daylight revealed a horrible state of devastation. The river
flowed with a mighty current through Front Street. Houses on the flats
were flooded and those near the river half submerged."

"The waters fell very
little Sunday and a little more on Monday, rising to nearly the previous
height Monday night. Tuesday was colder and freezing and the waters
lowered considerably. Tuesday evening it was out of the stores and Wednesday
the water was all out of Front street and nearly all in the river channel
through town, though the flats are still covered with two to five feet
of water and ice. Front Street, as are nearly all the streets that were
flooded, is packed with large cakes of ice which will probably remain
there a long time. The greatest loss, as we have stated before, is at
the homes of the poor and those in moderate circumstances. The Third
Ward is in a terrible condition. it is simply indescribable. Huge cakes
of ice are packed in and around scores of houses three feet in thickness
and the whole is frozen in a solid mass. The condition will be terrible
for weeks to come and cannot fail to result in want, sickness and death."

A
detailed list of estimated losses by businesses is given, including
one who "had a little snuff in his cellar, but his loss
is not over $50."

"About 7:30 Sunday morning a freight train on the Lake
Shore [and Michigan Southern] road went through the bridge over the
river. The bridge appeared perfectly solid and the watchman gave the
signal of all right. Just before the train reached the bridge he saw
it shake and settle. He signaled the danger but it was too late to stop
the train. The engineer and brakemen leaped off in safety but the fireman
being unable to jump stuck to the engine. The bridge seemed to fall
the moment the train touched it but the firemen pulled the throttle
wide open and the locomotive and six cars passed over in safety while
thirty-four empty cars went tumbling into the river. Only the east half
of the bridge fell. The cars and broken bridge were swept down the stream.
Some of them striking on the [Wheeling and Lake Erie] bridge below jammed
it somewhat out of line but did no particular damage. One of the floating
cars passed right through Geo. Barkhimer's house, demolishing it completely.
Two of the cars are lying near Chas. H. Bell's residence and three are
on the flats three miles down the river, while the others are strewn
in fragments on the banks or were swept still farther down."

Flood damage
was widespread beyond the river: "Bellevue was visited by
one of the most terrible and disastrous floods Saturday night and Sunday
that was ever known in its history, the surrounding country being covered
from eight to ten feet, and in some places nearly twenty feet deep.
Many families were taken from their houses on rafts hastily constructed
from sidewalks, many of them being taken out through second story windows.
Several barns were flooded in so short a time that it was almost impossible
to rescue the stock that was in them. There was no loss of life."

Residents were
encouraged to help flood victims: "Bring your
contributions of provisions, clothing and fuel for the relief of the
sufferers to the City Hall. Rubber boots were in immense demand, and
Sunday morning nearly every pair in the city had been sold."

Livestock suffered
as well:"Captain
Young had ten pigs drowned at his residence on the east side. A lost
brindle cow and heifer is at Van Epps & Cox's mill, awaiting an
owner."

And finally,
some advice: "Do unto
others as you would have them do unto you. If you lost nearly everything
you had in the flood, don't spend what little money you have left for
whisky."